Assassin series RE: Mystery Attacker
by Askre5
Summary: Leonardo from the Next Mutation world tells about when he was once attacked by a stranger who claimed to be his counterpart. One-Shot


**A/N:** Story originally written and posted on 20/05/2006

This story is kind of a pre-next mutation as the story events happen before the events shown in the TV show happened. It's how Next Mutation Leonardo met the assassin and touched on what happened.

This short story shows as well why the assassin wasn't aware of Venus.

I must warn that I am not used to writing anything from the Next Mutation world, so I apologize if any character sounds out of character, especially Leo.

This story happens well before the events of 'A broken hero'

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 **Disclaimer and Legal stuff:**

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, April O'Neil®, and Splinter® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

I do not own them in other words.

This story is written purely as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Turtles and not meant for any commercial profit or infringement on copyright. This story will immediately be removed if Viacom International wishes so.

AU turtles are based off the idea of the TMNT.

The story, is copyright © 2006 by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

 **Rated T for very mild violence and language.**

 **This story is canon to the Assassin series.**

 **To fully understand this story, being familiar with the Assassin's series is advisable.**

 _Sum: Leonardo from the Next Mutation world tells about when he was once attacked by a stranger who claimed to be his counterpart._

* * *

 **Mystery Attacker**

"Dammit." The pain was horrible. How did I let my guard down like that, better question was how did I end up in a dumpster?

I clutched at my wound; my bridge is not only cracked but also bleeding. I have several cuts and bruises all over my body. To top it all I'm hiding, yes me Leonardo am hiding in a dumpster of all places. Smelly to boot, full of trash and lord knows what.

Why am I hiding? Well my wounds are one big reason; I can hardly lift my sword. It was either run or I don't know, somehow I rather be caught by the Shredder than this guy.

Whom am I talking about? Well believe it or not, I'm talking about a fellow mutant turtle. Just like me, just this guy is cracked seriously. He dresses in a shirt and shorts. Carries a single katana like me, but he also has a rifle, a utility belt and on his feet were sandals. Additionally he had gloves, knee and elbow pads and a mask. All of it had it in common of being black, even the handle on his katana.

Cracked or not he literally smeared the rooftop with my shell. He caught me totally by surprise, attacked without a word or any provocation. Not a single sentence was uttered; all I really got out of him was this very strange smirk.

"I know you're out there Leonardo," I hear him say. I don't answer and just hope that he doesn't open the dumpster.

"You fought well; I haven't met many of my counterparts who only carry a single katana. You fought very well with it, but still you could have done a whole lot better," he said.

What does he mean by counterparts? Well that really wasn't high on my mind. I try to use my mask to cover my bleeding wound; the blood is oozing from the crack on my bridge. It hurts really, really bad. I don't even dare using my wrist communicator to contact the lair. I doubt my brothers would be coming to my rescue; they would be coming to fetch my corpse.

I hear him move in the alley searching for me. I try not to breath too loudly, try holding down my groans. This is not going to be easy, how the hell did I get into this mess?

Ok, I had gone on a short run. I scaled the rooftops and took off. It was around 5th and Main when I began feeling like somebody was following me. I shook it off when I didn't see anybody, if it were the Foot they would probably have attacked already. Beside I had the communicator if I needed to call for backup.

I had arrived at 6th street when the feeling of being followed came over me again. Then I stopped and frowned, wondering just what was going on. Had Raph perhaps followed me? No that couldn't be, was Mikey planning a prank? That would be just like him.

There he just suddenly appeared in front of me. This black clad turtle. He had different physical appearance than my brothers and I, yet I could easily see that he was a fellow mutant. However, that really didn't matter because he drew up his katana swiftly and simply charged.

I barely managed to get mine off my back and block the incoming strike. We began a very heated battle. My opponent fought furiously, every strike he made felt harder.

For the first few minutes of the fight, I tried to talk, ask him what his problem was. Why was he attacking me? However, he never answered, just smirked and continued to attack. It took all my swordsman skills to fence with him; he was very, very skilled.

After fighting with him for an hour, having received several cuts and bruises I realized that this was a fight I wasn't going to win. I had barely scratched him and he still fought madder than ever. So I made a run for it, at least hoping to find a spot to rest for a moment and then resume our battle.

But he followed very close and managed to corner me on another rooftop. I was forced to fight again but it was getting very difficult, he wasn't about to let me get anywhere. It was there when he managed to stab me in the bridge and his sword actually went through, so much was the force in the stab.

I screamed in pain and didn't feel much better when he yanked the sword out. I had already dropped my katana and leaned up against the wall. I stared at my opponent who made a very complicated sword movement in front of me. Then he stopped and posed in front of me with his sword. Blood was slowly crawling down the blade, my blood.

Again I tried to simply run and this time he seemed to allow me a head start. I got into the alley I'm now hiding in and crawled into this smelly dumpster, now I'm hoping he will give up his search and leave me alone. Man, I can't fight anymore; if he finds me I can only hope my death will be swift.

"You forgot your sword Leonardo," he called. Well he isn't worried about being spotted.

 _Wait, how does he know my name?_ I realized this was the second time he addresses me with my name. I don't recall any introductions.

Damn I wish I had called my brothers, told them to meet with me when I was on the run. But no, I figured since this was only one turtle I could handle it easily enough. I growled at my own stupidity. Never underestimate your opponent, how many times has Master Splinter drilled that into our heads?

This was something I would expect of Raph to land in, not me. I mean he is the hot-heated one. The 'I never back out of a fight and don't need any help' turtle. What I wouldn't give to have him here right now. I am not getting out of here without help.

"Come now, Leo there aren't that many places you can hide in here," I hear my opponent and he is too close for comfort. I freeze and just wait for him to open the dumpster.

Of course he does, I flinch and prepare for the worst. When nothing happens, I slowly glance up and see him stare down at me, same devious smirk plastered on his beak.

"Tsk, tsk, I was expecting something more," he said and shook his head.

"Who… who the hell are you?" I whisper and cringe when pain comes over me, my bridge wound seems to have stopped bleeding though.

"I carry the same name and you, Leo," he said and looked me over rather critically. "Can't be very healthy to lie in a dumpster with all those open wounds."

"Ok you beat me… whoever you are," I growled. "Why haven't… haven't you put me out of my misery?"

"I have no desire to kill you," this black clad turtle said with a shrug. "I don't usually kill my counterparts."

"What do you… mean by that?" I ask though I'm not sure I really want to know.

"It means Leonardo, I am you," he says and is clearly amused by my stunned face.

"I'm Leonardo, Assassin and Bounty hunter. I am from another dimension, another reality," he tells me and is now grinning nastily. "And you Leonardo have the 'honor' of being the sixth Leonardo I have fought."

"I wish… I could say… something likewise," I grunt and tried to ignore my wounds and bruises.

"Of course I didn't really fight few of them. The first one was tough; I must admit he was very difficult. However, the last four were different; two of them were pathetic, really caved under pressure. The other two were adequate," he continued almost as if he hadn't heard me.

"You were good, very good, the first one I meet who has only a single katana." He stopped for a moment and then glared at my strap that went over my plastron. His gaze was especially on my initial buckle.

"And the first one to have that L-buckle, plus your mask covers half of your head," he said and reached into the dumpsters. I didn't have a chance to react before he had ripped my mask from my hands.

"Interesting mask," he muttered and stared at it critically. "But seriously Leo, blue just isn't our color."

"Well sorry…" I muttered a bit surprised to be getting a fashion criticism.

"Well, it's been entertaining, but I have other places to go," he told me and closed the dumpster, without returning my mask.

I waited and waited. I heard nothing; there was no movement outside. Could it be that he had just left? He fought me viciously, nearly killed me and then just up and left? I knew that if I didn't get out of here, I would not be much healthier than I already was. So cringing in pain I lifted my hand and operated the wrist communicator and hoped the other guy was not still around.

"Yo, is that you, Leo?" the unmistakable voice of Raphael came over the communicator. I sighed; it would have been preferable if it were Don or Mike who had responded.

"Havin' fun on your run?" he said with a chuckle.

"Fun," I said weakly. "Fun is the last thing on my mind."

"Whoa, you don't sound so hot," Raph mentioned. "Are you ok?"

"No I'm not ok," I growled and cringed in pain. "I'm bleeding in a dumpster."

There was silence for a while now but I hardly paid attention to it. The wound on my bridge was still bothering me. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of Raphael's motorcycle being started through the communicator.

"Leo speak to me, where are you?" Raph's voice asked worriedly. I frowned as I tried to remember street names.

"I… I think the alley on 3rd and Oak," I whispered. Slowly and ignoring my pain I rose and tried to life the lid of the dumpster. It was very difficult but I managed to open it a crack and tried to see the street sign.

"Leo!" Raph voice called to me. I could hear the sound of his motorcycle; he was no doubt riding it right now. "Leo speak to me, are you sure it's 3rd and Oak?"

I caught a glimpse of the sign and noticed that I had indeed been right about the address. I sunk back into the dumpster, grimacing and gritting my teeth. I lifted the communicator to my beak and confirmed weakly that it was the right address.

"Ok, I'm on my way Leo. I'm not far away. Speak to me, don't stop talking," Raphael told me. "Who attacked you, was it the Foot?"

"No," I whispered. "Don't know who… mutant… like us…"

"Damn," Raph grunted over the communicator. "Ok, keep talking. How did he look like?"

It was getting harder to keep my eyes open. I barely heard Raph's question. I slowly opened my mouth to answer but stopped for a moment. How would I describe this guy, he was pretty much a turtle.

"Turtle… wearing black," I finally answered.

"A turtle?" Raphael said surprised.

That was the last I heard from him in a while. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I think I heard my name being called but couldn't be too sure. Everything went black.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, the familiar sight of my room greeted me. I was all wrapped up in bandages and lying in my own bed. Carefully I glanced to my left and saw Raph asleep on a chair close to the bed.

The door slid open and Don took a look inside. He smiled at seeing our red masked brother asleep. Then he noticed my eyes open, the purple clad one sighed in relief and walked silently inside and carefully knelt beside my bed.

"Hey, we were worried about you there for a moment," he whispered and removed the blanket off my body. Then proceeded to check my bandages that covered most of it. "How are you feeling?"

"Beat up," I muttered, Don grinned at that.

"Well, your stitches seem to be holding and most of your wounds are healing," he then declared and rose up to sit on the bedside. "You've been out for almost two days."

"Ouch." No wonder they were worried. This guy had beaten me up well.

"Do you remember what happened? Raph said he found you in a dumpster and you were unconscious. He mentioned that he had tried to keep you talking and that you said your attacker was another mutant turtle." Don looked at me and waited for the answer, but now I wasn't so sure any longer.

This guy seemed to have been interested in me and claimed to be my counterpart from another dimension. If I should discuss something like that with anybody, then it would be Donatello. Yet, I wasn't so positive if I should tell them what had happened. This guy had nearly killed me.

However, it wouldn't be right to keep it secret. What if he attacked again? Then it was best that they knew about him as well. So I told Donatello the best I could about my encounter with this turtle. He listened attentively and was quite surprised when I told him who this guy had claimed to be.

Then there was silence, I was still tired and Don had dropped into heavy thought. Probably pondering over what he had just learned. I could see he was in a heavy thought; his brow was sunken that there were wrinkles on his mask that almost covered his whole head safe for the beak.

Raph interrupted the silence, as he was waking up. Grunted something and then stretched out his arms. Then finally opened his eyes and noticed Don, frowned when seeing him sitting on the bed and then looked at me.

"Leo, you're awake," he said and immediately dropped down from the chair to kneel beside my bed. I just nodded slightly in response.

"Man, you scared the crap out of me when I opened that dumpster and found you unconscious," my red clad brother said. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I'll tell you that, we better let Leo rest," Don said and stood up from the bed. "He's already told me."

"Ok, ok, you just rest Leo. Jeez, I thought we had lost you when you stopped talking," Raph said and patted me on the plastron.

"Don't worry Raph, you won't get rid of me that easily," I told him with a grin. He actually laughed at that and I could see Donatello chuckle. Then I received a surprise, Raph pulled me up slightly and gave me a hug.

"Don't you ever do this to us again, hear me," he growled before allowing me to lie back down. Then he stood up and glanced at Don.

"And don't you dare telling Mikey what I just did," he growled at him. Our purple clad brother just raised his hands and nodded.

They finally left then to discuss what had happened. I was left to rest and continue to wonder about that mysterious black clad one. Claimed to be my counterpart, said he carried the same name. Yet there was something so different about him in looks, though of course the clothing he wore did conceal much of his body.

I slowly drifted back to sleep, no closer to understand this. Had I just been another target for him. He said I was the sixth Leonardo he had fought. Were there really others out there? If so, how did he manage to travel between, was that even possible? I would have to ask Don later.

My injuries were not as severe as they had looked. Though I did suffer from blood loss. I was up and running again in a week, though some injuries didn't fully heal until after two. By the end of the month, I was once more in tiptop form.

I didn't see that black clad turtle again. After few months the encounter was pretty much forgotten. If I were going to encounter that turtle again, I would probably have done so already. I'll just hope that I never need to see him again. I do not doubt that he was fully capable of killing me.

 _Six months later, the events of Ninja Turtles: Next Mutation episodes East Meet West occur._

 **The End**


End file.
